The Decimators
The Decimators was a pre-war comic book published by Blue Sun Comics. Created to promote a toy line, both the book and its source material were instead short lived and largely forgotten. Instead, it’s greatest legacy would come from the reuse of some character names in the foundation of the post-war Decimator warbands. Premise Set in the futuristic year of 2287, The Decimators told the adventures of a group of science fiction heroes who protected the “United Worlds” against alien invaders. The titular Decimators were a small, elite strike force, each one of which wore a distinctive, brightly coloured Power Armour suit into battle. The suits gave each user “superhuman strength, nigh-invulnerable armour and devastating super-science weaponry”, allowing each to be a “one man tank battalion.” While not explicitly stated, each suit was also environmentally protected, allowing the users to fight in space or underwater. The Decimator team was based on “Space Defence Fortress One”, a massive spaceship that was the flagship of the United Worlds fleet. They travelled from planet to planet, fighting against the enemies of the United Worlds while protecting innocent lives from harm. Oddly enough, despite the ship’s massive size, it was seen to only hold a seven of the Decimator Power Armour suits for reasons that were never made clear. For security purposes, each of the Decimator pilots was only ever referred to by a code-name, which happened to be the same as the name of their Power Armour. The primary enemies of the United Worlds were the Grebulons, a race of diminutive, lizard-like aliens. The Grebulons were seen as being a mystery; initially believed to be primitive, they had been able to invade and conquer several of the United Worlds with the aid of their own massive warships, as well as advanced all-terrain vehicles. The first three issues of the book focused on the Decimators’ war against the Grebulons as they fought to liberate their worlds from the alien invaders. Each one of these consisted of showcasing one or more of the Decimator suits in a colourful, if poorly realised, locale. The battles were largely straightforward, with the characterisation and story development based around calling out the names and distinctive features of each suit to reinforce brand recognition. In issue four, the defecting Grebulon general Ssnakbah revealed that the Grebulons were in turn being supplied by a mysterious race of aliens known as the SS’lan’drova. Much of the issue was spent on redefining the comic’s premise before setting up for the final issue, in which the Decimators rushed to stop the aliens from destroying all life in the United Worlds with a poorly defined doomsday weapon. In the end, the day was saved (except for the Greblulon homeworld which was destroyed in order to demonstrate the threat) and the book ended with an obvious sequel hook that was never followed up on. Publication History The Decimators ran for five issues, dated October 2062 to March 2063. The book was created as a cooperative venture between Blue Sun and the Kansas-based Wizzo toy company as a way to both boost Blue Sun’s market share while promoting the new toyline. The situation was advantageous as Blue Sun had been looking to move into more cross-media promotion of its books, and saw The Decimators as an ideal launch platform for such efforts. Likewise, Pyrite had hoped to increase the profile of their other toylines and saw the Decimators as an ideal way to do such. A working deal was developed between the two companies during early 2062 in which Blue Sun would essentially create a ‘world’ for the toys. As a part of the deal, Blue Sun was given access to the toys and their designs, while cooperating with Wizzo’s marketing department to create a consistent image for the brand. While Wizzo created the designs and the names for the toys/characters, Blue Sun had considerable leeway in the worldbuilding. The toyline launched in September 2062 in anticipation of fast sales during the Christmas period. Blue Sun had by that point allready begun to build excitement for the line with advertisements in their own comics, as well as comic book magazines and trades. The toys were extensively advertised on television and radio to boost their profile in the market. Despite this, the initial toy sales were slow. Wizzo expected them to pick up once the comic was launched in October, increasing the brand’s profile. Instead, the comic’s launch was dissapointing with nationwide poor sales. For the week it ranked low in the sales charts, only just ahead of Iridium Comics’ Lands of Fantasy, itself a perpetual slow seller. This did not bode well for the inevitable second-issue sales drop-off which proved to be worse then expected, pushing the book well down the charts. Likewise, the toy sales remained slow. While they did increase prior to Christmas, they still remained behind Wizzo’s expectations. Plans for a second wave of toys, initially intended for launch in March 2063, were postponed as orders for restock dried up. Post-Christmas, many Decimator toys were heavily discounted to move stock and avoid ‘shelf-warming.’ At the same time, the comic’s sales bottomed out, leaving it at the low ends of the monthly figures. At a January 2063 meeting, Blue Sun’s editors expressed a desire to cancel the comic, explaining that it was not profitable and costing them money in licencing fees. Wizzo, seeing the writing on the wall for the Decimators line as a whole, reluctantly agreed. The writers were given two issues to wrap up the story in order to fulfil existing solicitations, resulting in a rather rushed and unsatisfactory conclusion. Wizzo would formally cancel the toyline in March, leaving the second wave of toys unproduced. Legacy As a comic, The Decimators would be largely forgotten. Despite the ever-decreasing print runs, unsold issues would linger in bargain bins for the next decade and a half until the great war. Very few copies survived, and the comic would go largely unknown in the emergent culture of post-war America even while other titles from the period, such as Hubris’ Grognak the Barbarian, remained surprisingly popular and well-known. Neither company involved with the comic would even make it to the Great War. While Blue Sun did briefly soar to being a second-tier player in the American comics market by 2072, it was then wiped out in a failed real estate deal that cost the company everything it had. The company’s trademarks and properties were sold off to cover debts, and the identities of their actual final owners would become somewhat muddied (at least, until the Great War made it irrelevant). Wizzo Toys was bought out by Zeta Tech in 2069. The company retained the brand, but retooled Wizzo’s factories for millitary production. Probably the single largest contribution The Decimators made to post war culture had very little to do with the comics or their content. In the late 22nd century, Dexter Malek, a raider living in Minnesota, found a complete run of the comics in a pre-war ruin. Looking to build his own empire, Malek believed that the key to its success would be to create a mythology and culture that would sustain itself and serve as a unifying element. Malek used the names from the comic, rebranding them as ‘ancient warrior kings’ who’s legacies his followers would relive and perpetuate. The move was a success, with the Decimator warbands remaining a major force in Minnesota to this day. Creators While numerous people were involved in the creation of the Decimators project, three stood out among them for their contributions. The comic was written by Art Equis, who also was a key part of the team that worked with Wizzo to create the world of the comic and toys. An industry veteran who had worked for numerous companies, Art was known for his solid and dependable, if unspectacular work, characterised by detailed story breakdowns that were consistently ready on time. He was also famous for his habit of never ending a day at work sober, often showing up for work inebriated and getting blind drunk at industry events. Art duties were handled by Michi Fukisawa, a then young and upcoming artist noted for his detailed style and elaborate mechanical work. Fukisawa would rise to prominence in the early 2070s when he founded his own comic company that was sold primarily on his signature style. That company then collapsed when it was revealed that he had been not paying his employees while pocketing all revenue for himself. Among those who remained unpaid were a half dozen interns who had been doing ghost art for him for years. Finally, The Decimators was overseen by Blue Sun’s then chief editor, Kat Mungletron. Something of an eccentric figure, Mungletron became somewhat infamous for her lengthy and rambling editorials on the inside covers of every Blue Sun comic. These editorials covered a vast range of subjects from her close family and her many cats to the perils of nuclear energy and her paranoid rantings about how Vault-Tec was a front for a shadowy secret faction within the US Government. In her final editorial, she revealed that she was leaving to industry to go and live in a commune with a ‘tantric sexual yoga instructor’. Category:Pre-War Group